TWENTY-five years ago, Mervyn Clarke Snr saw the need for a horse sales venue in the upper-half of Ireland and set about filling that gap with his recently redeveloped Cavan Equestrian Centre.
Cavan Equestrian first opened at Latt in 1983 as a riding school, hosting horse and pony shows in an outdoor sand ring and an indoor.
Nowadays the arenas from those early days would seem small but top international riders Eddie Macken, Paul Darragh, James Kernan and Trevor Coyle, to name but a few, regularly rode at Cavan.
Today, Cavan Equestrian Centre is not only the busiest show jumping venue in Ireland, but it is one of Europe’s largest competition venues with three indoor arenas, two sand arenas, three grass arenas, 500 permanent stables and full bar/restaurant facilities.
With shows attendances growing year on year, Mervyn saw that niche in the market for Horse and Pony Sales and following a very large expansion in 1993/1994 which unveiled a new indoor competition area, the Clarke family held their first International Performance Sale in January 1994.
Auctioneer George Chandler was on the rostrum at Cavan for that very first Performance Sale. With 200 entries, it was a great success and the Cavan Sales division was born.
Today, 25 years on, George is still selling horses and ponies at Cavan, alongside Robert Hunt who is a regular on the rostrum which has also hosted over the years auctioneers Nick Nugent, Andrew Nolan, Simon Kerins, Alistair Pim and more recently, Jim Fenlon, Darach O’Neill, Denis Barret and Richard Ryan.
Hundreds of top horses have been sold over the last quarter of a century at Cavan including four that competed at the Rio Olympics in 2016. They include Mighty Nice, a 15-year-old Irish-bred gelding by Ard Ohio out of Sarazen, ridden by American Phillip Dutton to win an individual bronze medal in eventing at Rio.
The brilliant Irish-bred Cooley Rorkes Drift (Courge II - Rachelle Comet) went on to a glittering career under Jonty Evans including finishing individual ninth at Rio.
The Duke of Cavan, a gelding by Courage out of Dysert Girl, was sold as a four-year-old to England. He won the two-star in Tattersalls and then went on to jump clear at Blenheim. In 2015, he was sold to Yoshiaki Oiwa and represented Japan at the Rio Olympics.
Another one that passed through the sales ring in Cavan and went on to compete at the Rio Olympics was Castlewoods Jake. A gelding by Ricardo Z out of Tara Elegance by Senang Hati, he was ridden internationally for Italy by Luca Roman.
Cavan also sold Camaron Hills Quick Dollar, a finalist in the World Cup show jumping in 2010 at Geneva. Ridden for the USA by Joie Gatlin, he is by Don Juan de la Bouverie out of Carnival Cavalier (Cavalier Royale) and was bred by Leo Rice.
ABC Quantum Cruise (OBOS Quality – Cruising) also went through Cavan sales ring as a six-year-old and was snapped up by international rider Peter Charles. The horse has since gone on to have a very successful show jumping career competing up to Longines Global Champions Tour level under Peter’s son Harry.
Success stories also include the 2007 sale of a 168cms three-year-old grey stallion by Cornet Obolensky which fetched €46,000.
Cavan hosts between 16 and 18 sales days per year with an average of 150 lots per day. The busy sales schedule at Cavan includes six Performance Sales, a Premier 3YO Sale, two Youngstock Sales, two Registered Irish Draught Sales and an Elite Foal Sale.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Over the years, there have been a lot of highs and also some lows, in particular during the recession years when it was very difficult for vendors and breeders alike.
The Clarke family, with Stuart at the helm, are always there to give everyone who attends a warm welcome and a professional service.
“Our goal each day of every sale in the centre is that buyers should expect top class facilities, along with a professional and warm welcome from the sales team to help in every way possible. We are glad to say that vendors attend from every corner of the country in Ireland.
“We attract a strong client base from the UK and a regular attendance from Sweden, Norway, Holland, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, France, Slovenia and occasionally from the USA, Canada and as far away as China and Libya have purchased horses at our sales,” said Stuart Clarke.
There is always a market for safe, reliable Irish horses that can do a job but it in in the foal sales where change is most evident.
Stuart continued: “Where I have seen a change is with regard to the foals. People now know how important it is to have as much information as possible available with regard to how a foal is bred.
“The more you have on paper the better. It has become much more like racing in that way. People are looking for the blacktype information of horses that foals are related to.
“We run an Elite Foal sale during our September show. The selection process for this day begins at a foal viewing day at the beginning of August.
“We may have as many as 80 or 90 foals show and we have to whittle that number down to about 25.
“Foals are selected on conformation, movement and pedigree.
“The sire and dam information is vital. If the dam has competed successfully or is well related to a successful competitor through its grandam, brothers or sisters, all those details need to be listed.
“I think that vendors have become much better about providing this information, they realise that it is now expected by purchasers. People are much more informed about what they need to be looking for when going to buy a foal.”
BUYER CONFIDENCE
Another of Cavan’s specialist days is the Registered Irish Draught Sale, which moved to Cavan from Tattersalls.
“There is a very large fraternity in this country that are interested in the Irish Draught Pedigree. This is a breed that is bound into our equine history and although it, like many others, had a difficult run during the recession years, it seems to have come back strong and that can be seen in the activity in the sales ring.
“Buyer confidence is hugely important to us here in Cavan and we want to be able to stand over every horse that comes through our sales ring. One way to ensure that this is possible is that all horses in Cavan sales are sold with a veterinary certificate which is completed within one week of sale. We also have a vendor’s warranty which is quite a detailed form. Jointly the vet cert and the vendors warranty gives essential information to potential purchasers.
“We also have three vets on site each sales day should the purchaser request to have the animal re-vetted,” said Stuart.
Cavan Equestrian hosts other events such as the Farm Machinery Shows, Car Shows, Vintage Show, Concerts including the 2008 performance of the legendary Kenny Rogers while in March last year, it hosted world renowned horseman Monty Roberts to sell-out audiences over two days.
IT has taken 35 years of hard work by two generations of the Clarke family to create a world-class equestrian venue at Latt, Co Cavan.
The centre was established in 1983 with one indoor and one outdoor all-weather arena.
They began running training show jumping events and Show jumping Ireland-registered events along with a riding school which ran for 10 years.
In 1993, the first major expansion began and Arena One was built, as well as a large restaurant. Toilets, showers and offices were joined up with the existing indoor arena which then became the practise ring.
The first block of stables; 140 in total was then built. The outdoor grass arenas were established and additional car parking was developed.
In 1997, the second block of stables, which consisted of 150 boxes, was added. The veterinary building was also built.
In 2000, an extension on to the main stable block was built, adding 60 more boxes and wash areas, feed store, toilets and a stable manager’s office.
In 2007, the centre underwent its second major expansion, extending the existing arenas and buildings, making Arena One longer, building a new indoor over the old all-weather arena, a new outdoor all-weather arena and a new stable yard.
The restaurant was extended and completely refurbished and a new bar was built. The front lobby was established and accounts offices were built.
In 2009, a second all-weather arena was added and in 2010 an all-weather grass arena and another new stable block of 100 stables were built in The Meadows.
“We look forward to the year ahead with the first sale of 2019 on March 6th. To celebrate our 25th anniversary, we are giving 25% OFF all our entries, for this sale only, as a ‘thank you’ to our vendors who have supported us over the past 25 years, and hope that the success in the sales lives on,” said Stuart Clarke.